


Being Okay

by ami_ven



Series: Being Okay [1]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Community: sj_everyday, Episode Tag, Episode: s08e18 Threads, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-16 14:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1350031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For now, Sam just needs a friend, and Jack understands that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Being Okay

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "sj_everyday" prompt "episode: Threads" (2011)

Jack found Sam just where he expected her to be, out on the back porch and staring up at the night sky.

He took a moment just to watch her, lit only by the moonlight. She had the blanket from the living room couch around her, hanging loosely from one shoulder to the other elbow. She looked... peaceful, and Jack felt a wave of relief.

If anyone deserved a little peace right now, it was Sam. Losing her dad, after just a few short years of having him around, was bad enough without her team heading off to separate assignments— which was exactly why he'd bribed, bargained and cajoled them all up here for one last hurrah before they weren't SG-1 anymore.

Jack leaned against the railing beside her, but she didn't acknowledge him. He stayed silent, listening to the crickets and watching the fireflies drift across the pond.

"I can't believe he's gone," said Sam, still looking at the sky. "I thought, with Selmak, we'd get more time... that he'd get to see... and I can't even tell Mark—"

They'd been waiting for this since they'd found out Jacob was sick. Even Sam could only hold in so much before she'd crack, which was another reason he'd wanted to get them out of Cheyenne Mountain.

"C'mere," he said, folding her into a hug.

She went willingly, tucking her head under his chin and holding on tight. He could feel her shoulders shaking with sobs, but she didn't make a sound and Jack pulled her closer. It was all he could do, simply being there, and he was going to do his best at it.

They stood that way for a long time, until Sam's silent crying stopped and she began to shiver from the cold. Jack tucked the blanket tighter around her shoulders as they pulled back, keeping his hands on her shoulders.

"Thanks," she said, her voice hoarse but steady.

He smiled softly. "Always, Carter."

Sam looked at him, blue eyes intent. She expected him to kiss her, he realized. Because he could now, if he wanted to— and he most emphatically _did_ and he was going to— just not today.

He leaned forward and pressed a brief kiss to her forehead.

"Jack?" she asked, confused, and seriously, he should get a medal for the self-restraint it took not to kiss her properly when she said his name like that.

He took a deep breath. "Carter— Sam... We're not going to sleep together."

Whatever she'd been expecting him to say, it clearly wasn't that. He watched her expression change from confusion to outrage and back to confusion before settling on a kind of puzzled indignation.

" _What?_ "

"I mean here, tonight. Because if us getting together is still something you want—"

"Of course it is," she said quickly, still indignant, and he grinned.

"— if it's still something you want, then I'm all for it. But tonight, you need a friend, and we're friends first, Carter, whatever else we might get to be."

She managed a smile. "You're a good friend, Jack. And you're right, this is just what I needed."

Jack grinned. "See, Carter, not as dumb as I look."

"I've never thought you were dumb," Sam protested. "Clueless, sometimes..."

"Hey!" he said, but she was smiling at him, really smiling, and he couldn't bring himself to feel too offended. "Thanks for not blowing my cover."

Sam actually laughed at that, one of her soft, non-giggly laughs— and if he hadn't already mentally awarded himself a medal for self-restraint, he'd deserve it for resisting that sound.

Then, she shivered, and he reluctantly took a step back. "We should probably head back inside before you catch cold."

She caught his hand before he could get too far away, lacing their fingers together as though they'd done it a thousand times before.

"I _will_ be okay, Jack," she said. "Maybe not soon, but I will be."

"You know what, Carter?" he replied. "I think I believe you. But if you need some help with that..."

She smiled and tucked herself, blanket and all, against his side. "Then I'll know just who to ask."

THE END


End file.
